Decaf / Colombia Amigos del Huila - Sugar Process

Notes of dark chocolate, cherry, almond.

The Amigos del Huila decaf is a curated blend from many of the same smallholder producers whose coffee goes into the Amigos del Huila community blend. This most recent iteration is a blend of 12 different lots from 11 different producers: Yaneth Trujillo, Javier Pajoy, Andres Guarnizo, Carlotta Quinayas, Cristian Pajoy, Edilma Quinayas, Aldemar Quistal (2 lots from him!), Alex Osorio, Neil Guarnizo, Alberto Caldon and Johanna Palacios. There are lots of familiar names in this list, as we actually have purchased Calotta Quinayas sons', Yamid, lot as well. 

This coffee is imported by Shared Source who works with all of these farmers into creating this blend which has the same level of meticulous detail that all of their coffees receive. 

Other than the attention to detail involved, what makes this decaf so interesting is that it is decaffeinated by what is called Sugar Process. The process to decaffeinate starts by fermenting sugarcane molasses to create ethanol, which is mixed with acetic acid to create Ethyl Acetate (EA). From there, the coffee is steamed to open the pores, which allows for the extraction of caffeine molecules, and then placed in a solution of EA where it bonds to the salts of chlorogenic acid inside the beans. When the coffee is fully saturated, the solution is drained and refilled until 97% or more of the caffeine is removed. 

We hadn’t tried a decaf of this calibre before this and frankly, we think it's the best decaf we've ever had Enjoy!